Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)

I thank Senators for their co-operation in bringing this Bill forward and passing it in the House. One of the issues involved was a matter that was ultra vires and which the Bill will regularise.

With regard to infrastructure, it should be recognised that there have been significant improvements. My view is that one of the problems was that infrastructure was always built from the centre outwards. When I was given funding for road infrastructure in the Gaeltacht areas, I tended to start at the farthest area back, for example, starting at Glencolumcille and working outwards, rather than starting at the Gaeltacht border and working inwards. I had three reasons for that approach. I felt that if anything ever happened, it was much more likely that the outside portion would be finished whereas if the road was built half way to the Gaeltacht, someone might say that was far enough as the population is so small. I always thought it a ridiculous reason, particularly in the case of a stop-end road, that if the road was built inwards, one is driving over the road and destroying the work that has been done. If one works outwards, there is the advantage of working towards the sources of stone and chips. The third reason was that it sends a signal to people that peripherality can be dealt with if the investment is provided. Between the Gaeltacht and the islands particularly, but more recently for wider rural development, considerable extra funding has been made available. I am very jealous about one thing.

When I receive CLÁR, Gaeltacht and Island funding, I am careful to ensure additionality rather than displacement. In the past, when a special fund was established, the money went in but those who should have been doing the job said, "That is very handy, this new fund will look after that", and they tended quietly to pull the money out of the area. I have had many a row with agencies to ensure that the extra funding we provide is additional.

When modest additional funding is provided, it has a significant effect. One example in County Donegal is that when we received the Gaeltacht funding I arrived at an arrangement with the county manager that he would concentrate on the road from Gweedore to Letterkenny, while we would concentrate on the road from Glencolmcille to Kilcar. In that way two roads were being done relatively quickly with considerable sums of money, whereas if the county council had to split the money between both roads the effect would not have been the same. It is important to keep fighting the good fight for rural infrastructure.